In an effort to show the House of Representatives is serious about taking on the opioid overdose problem, the House is considering dozens of bills dealing with the issue.

Among them is H.R. 2851, The Stop Importation and Trafficking of Synthetic Analogues (SITSA) Act, which would significantly expand the powers of the Department of Justice to unilaterally prohibit synthetic drugs chemically similar to currently banned drugs and determine penalties accordingly.

If passed, the bill would merely perpetuate the false, simplistic and misguided notion that the solution to the opioid overdose problem is more prohibition, more punishment and fewer liberties.

The bill has drawn widespread criticism from across the political spectrum.

“Instead of passing legislation that would have a negative fiscal and societal impact on communities across America, Congress should instead continue the work of criminal justice reform advocates across the country,” argues Adam Brandon from FreedomWorks. “Increasing access to treatment opportunities and targeting the international drug trade, not addicted individuals, would best enhance public safety and reduce the threat presented by the opioid crisis.”

Similarly, a coalition of organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union, NAACP and Human Rights Watch have warned that the bill wrongly cedes too much power from Congress to unelected government bureaucrats.

“Simply put, Congress, our elected legislature charged with passing laws and creating the federal criminal code, should not delegate the power to enact new criminal punishments to a federal law enforcement agency,” the coalition writes. “It has been well-documented that federal agencies create laws that lead to overcriminalization; this bill would take us further down this problematic path.”

The Drug Policy Alliance has condemned the bill as dangerous and has provided a link for members of the public concerned about the looming escalation of the drug war to make their voice heard.

The U.S. House will vote on a dangerous bill TOMORROW giving DEA & Jeff Sessions unprecedented new powers to ban synthetic drugs & also medicinal plants like kratom.

The House Rules Committee recently rejected an amendment from Reps. Mark Pocan, D-Wisconsin, Paul Gosar, R-Arizona, and Jared Polis, D-Colorado, to protect medicinal plants like kratom from being prohibited under the process the proposed legislation puts forward.

If kratom ends up prohibited, the government will not only have wrongly eroded freedom of choice, but it will condemn vast numbers of people to suffering and will turn many the black market, if not for kratom then for heroin or drugs sold as heroin. The unintended consequence will be the creation of more victims of the opioid overdose problem in the name of fighting the opioid overdose problem.

The SITSA Act should be rejected. We should be investing in harm reduction and treatment, not doubling down on the disaster that has been the War on Drugs.

Sal Rodriguez is an editorial writer and columnist for the Southern California News Group. He may be reached at salrodriguez@scng.com

Sal Rodriguez joined the Editorial Board in 2014. He got his start in journalism investigating the abuse of solitary confinement in American prisons and jails with Solitary Watch, and has been published by a variety of publications including The Guardian and Mother Jones. He is a graduate of Reed College in Portland, Oregon.